Check travel column: Couple witnesses a hot time at Yellowstone

My wife, Ruthie, and I - plus, many others - were anxiously waiting for Yellowstone's geyser Old Faithful to erupt. Having never seen one of the most famous natural wonders on the planet, we were tremendously excited. The visitor center had said it was due to erupt at exactly 11:39 a.m. - right about now.

Out there, the geyser was only venting up little puffs of steam. Someone groused impatiently, "Well, is it or isn't it!?"

I thought those puffs were speeding up. "Ruthie, you set with the camera!?" She was peering through the viewfinder. "I'm focusing, dear! I ? OH!!"

The geyser jetted skyward, and as it shot ever higher, we all broke out in cheers! After gaping at it, I glanced at my watch and ? it was right on time!

When it subsided, we were pumped up enough to drive to another viewing area, Midpoint Geyser Basin. Here, visitors get a close-up look at steaming fumaroles of the non-erupting variety, mini-geysers spouting only as high as your head, and aquamarine pools simmering at near boiling. Following the boardwalk, we were struck by the mineral deposit's array of colors, a painter's palate of iridescent yellows, oranges and reds.

Standing behind the guardrail amid the acrid reek of sulfur, we peered down into a deep pool of steaming water. A gorgeous phosphorescent blue-green, it tempted us to reach down and touch it. A sign explained we were seeing vividly colored microorganisms that thrive in these super heated pools. Another sign, one of many in intervals all along the boardwalk cautioned visitors: "Do not touch the water! Serious injury could result!"

So help us, a guy walked past, and clutching his hand, gave us a pained pout and whined, "When I reached in, I got burned!"

As we continued around, the gusty wind made us hold onto our hats. Others had not, as seen by all the head gear scattered beyond the walkway. Park workers used long extension poles to gather up the litter. Meantime, signs warned, "Under no circumstances must one leave the boardwalk to retrieve personal items!"

As if the hot springs all around weren't explanation enough, the sign said the mineral crust was so thin in places that people could break through into scalding-hot pools. We winced at thinking of lobsters tossed into boiling pots.

We stopped to peer down a dark hole; in its depths was a whitish, frothy stew of bubbly boiling water. When it suddenly vented up, we yelled, "Whoa!" and jumped back. Barely higher than us, the geyser quickly subsided to resume its bubbling. Keeping our distance, we watched until it soon shot up again and quickly retreated. We laughed at ourselves for being so jumpy about something so small.

We had nearly circled the walkway when, inspired by her inner artist, Ruthie stopped for some final close-ups of another steaming pool. Clicking away, she enthused, "See? At this angle the water color is sapphire?" Shuffling sideways, she went on, "But over here it shifts to deep green!" Click-click! True, the wide variety of color schemes here seemed to change as you looked at them.

All our travels had convinced me that I was one adventurous guy. Yet, I was getting jittery about the mighty dynamics at work all around us. Huge hot zones of molten magma were seething and churning this very moment directly beneath our feet. In fact, the entire Yellowstone basin was a vast caldera left 600,000 years ago after a super volcano erupted. Worse, all these venting geysers and steaming pools said it was still very, very active. The people at the Yellowstone Volcanic Observatory had assured that this place was not going to blow itself up anytime soon.

I thought, "Swell, but what if ??"

"Sweetie, this place really is stunning, but let's hit the road for Montana, OK?" Over there, at least, the parks wouldn't explode.

We left, thinking we'd return someday to see more of this wondrous place. We had sure experienced some heatedly exciting moments. But if we did come back, I'd keep a quick escape route in mind.